Monday, December 5, 2016

Guest Post: St. Paul's Philippines NRSV-CE

Thank you to Allister for providing this first of two guest posts.

First off, a quick introduction: My name is Allister Chua,
Aloy for short, and I hail from the Philippines, like our good friend Gerald
here, whose insights I particularly appreciate given our similar cultural lens.
I have been silently and intermittently following Tim’s blog for nearly two
years now ever since my “jolt” reaffirmation to the Catholic Church (a point I
will recount in part after this as far as the main topic of this post is
concerned). But I never commented very much as I felt my own discussions and
insights would be laughably inferior to everyone else’s.

I was born and educated Catholic, though being the only
Catholic at home (my late father was Catholic-Taoist, practicing the latter
more), there was no solid foundation at home for my faith to grow; school
didn’t particularly help, carefree children that we were. I did have First
Communion and Confirmation, but as I went on to university, Jesuit-educated
still I was notwithstanding, my spiritual life wavered and I very nearly, at
two points in my life, became Protestant (being not just the only Catholic in
the family, but the only Catholic in a clan of mostly Evangelicals, can be
quite a bit of a challenge when it comes to faith-related discourses).

Anyway, in the first quarter of last year, I stumbled upon
some materials online that led me to cast away all my doubts and make a
personal reaffirmation to myself and to the Lord that I would remain in the
Catholic Church. That being said and done, I needed a proper Catholic Bible –
my two school-mandated and –age copies of the NAB had long since been shared
with those in greater need of them, and my remaining Bibles were all Protestant
(thus containing only the 66-book canon): NCV from my cousin, NASB from my
brother, and ESV from my pastor and Bible study teacher. I have since gifted my
Protestant nephew and godson the first, and returned the latter two, leaving me
with nothing.

I researched on which Bible to get, and since I wanted
“something different” from NAB (I did get a NABRE later on), that would still
be literal (or follow formal equivalence), I settled upon the RSV-2CE or NRSV.
Most unfortunately, the former was not available here (Manila’s English
Catholic Bibles are mostly confined to NAB[RE], NRSV, and CCB; you’d have to go
to a very niche Catholic store to get any kind of RSV), so when I visited my
local Catholic bookstore, the NRSV-CE stood out, and thus it became mine and I
it.

This local store is
under ST PAULS Philippines, the local arm (also extending to Macau) of the
Society of Saint Paul, which was founded in the late 1940s in Italy by the
Blessed Giacomo Alberione to spread the Good News through social communication.
This particular edition, too, is published by the same.

The first thing you’d notice is that this particular NRSV
does not share the same branding as that of the Harper-branded NRSV Bibles. It
is a paperback, with very minimal, if any, sewn binding, which makes me a
little nervous each time I open the book. This paperback, however, is
thoughtfully wrapped in a plastic book cover, unlike most paperbacks you find
on the market (religious or otherwise). While a good gesture, it got my
waste-hating mind thinking on how on earth I would be able to have the Bible
rebound in the future without rendering the plastic cover useless.

The Bible paper is relatively pleasant to the touch and easy
to flip through, but bleed could be improved – both the print and my highlights
can be quite easily seen on the other side, hindering a smooth reading
experience. The type is nicely-sized and spaced, and the serif typeface very
readable – even the footnotes. There is a nice touch on the side with black
boxes indicating the books of the Bible, though there is no hollowed-out
portion where you can see the book abbreviations at a glance – you still need
to flip through to identify the book you need, which renders it less useful
than expected. I have sticky tabs indicating where the OT, NT, and other
sections are.

Now, on to the content proper. As mentioned, it’s the
NRSV-CE text, with the Deuterocanonical books of Scripture in their traditional
placements as a Catholic Bible. It is, essentially, almost a study Bible, with
the NRSV Concordance, many in-text maps and charts (examples include a Gospel
harmony, a floor plan of King Solomon’s Temple, and even geographical puns in
the Book of Micah), and the entire text of Dei
Verbum. Additional resources that the Catholic reader like me would enjoy
include the table of readings based on the Canadian Lectionary, table of
moveable liturgical dates, and popular prayers and devotions.

As a would-be study Bible, my only qualms are that there are
no introductions whatsoever to each of the books, no notes of any kind other
than the textual footnotes (especially cross-references – but then again, this
never claimed to be a study Bible; I
only said it could be one, and the
NRSV doesn’t normally contain cross-references anyway),
and – perhaps the most glaring and strange omission – the Psalms do not have
their titles. It simply says “Psalm 1”, “Psalm 2”, and so on – I have never
seen such a phenomena in any Bible, and it is quite disconcerting! As this is
my Bible for annotation and study, I copied all the Psalm titles from another
edition of the NRSV, and also copied NT-to-OT cross-references from my NCV,
before I gifted it.

Given all these, I have mainly consigned this Bible to
home-based study, preferring to use other editions for simple (or
contemplative) reading and church. I’ve even placed it in a journal sleeve,
containing my prayer cards and some notes, from a local social enterprise
called Jacinto & Lirio, which makes plant leather products from water
lilies. But whenever I open it, as I have done so in the past hour, I feel a
spark of joy that Marie Kondo, the radical Japanese professional organizer,
would be proud of, and it feels like a most familiar friend that you live far
apart from, but are always glad to meet and go home to.

And so, those slights aside, I would recommend this edition
of the NRSV-CE as a spiritual investment for Catholics in this part of the
world (or in any part, even) that’s well worth it. I find it works well with
the NABRE for a more integral Bible experience, given the latter’s emphasis on
notes, and I do use them side-by-side when studying. As a study Bible, on its
own it’s not enough – but again, it never claimed to be one. But as a Bible
that you could just read, with the occasional handy reference on the side to
check out, this fits the bill just right. After all, there’s no perfect
Biblical translation or edition, but there are really good ones, and this is
one of them.

Allister Chua, or
Aloy, 25, is a struggling entrepreneur (with emphasis on “struggling”) from the
Philippines who was born and educated, but not raised, Catholic. At the end of
a spiritual crisis, he made a conscious decision to stay with and grow in his
Catholic faith. Though he speaks none of the Biblical languages or even Latin,
he speaks fluent English and Filipino, is proficient in Chinese, enjoys elementary
proficiency in French, and is learning Spanish and Japanese. He runs The
Daily You, a blog-based institute
that advocates living a truly good life through one of higher purpose, rooted
in awareness and service.

5 comments:

Thank you for sharing this very thoughtful and detailed review of your NRSV Bible. I really like that Vermeer painting on the cover! You mentioned that the RSV is relatively hard to find in the Philippines; if it was available, do you think you still would have chosen the NRSV, or was there a particular reason you may have favored the RSV-2CE? Just curious. You really can't go wrong with either one.

Thanks for your story on how you found your deepness of faith and a Bible you feel at home with.

I know how you feel about having a Bible you "feel is a friend you live apart from, but always glad to meet". As much as I like my USCCB Personal Edition NABRE, and the Baronius Knox, and my paperback RSV-2CE (my first ever Catholic Bible), I feel something special with my red St. Jerome NABRE paperback with newspaper-like pages. My priest gave it to me when I first revealed I was looking into joining RCIA and it just stuck to me.

Jason, yes, I forgot to mention that it is Anglicized. The copyright page does mention Oxford, but it might have been an arrangement struck between them and ST PAULS Philippines.

Daniel, oh, right, Vermeer! I came upon the painting on the Internet one time and I must've saved it to my computer, but forgot about it. If the RSV had been easier to find, I would have bought it first, as it was the first item on my list. But given what I've learned about the NRSV, I would've bought it too - so I'd have both. =)

Cody, wow, could we see the St. Jerome? I am curious about the newspaper pages. =D

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This blog is intended to be a place where Catholics and other Christians can discuss Catholic Bible editions, study tools, and other issues concerning the Catholic faith.
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Message 4 Next Week

Prayer of Thomas Merton

My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think that I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road, though I may know nothing about it. Therefore will I trust you always, though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.